1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the electrical power generating art and more particularly to an improved structural arrangement for generating electrical power utilizing both wind energy and solar energy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many structural devices have heretofore been proposed and/or utilized to provide the generation of electrical energy utilizing wind power to drive the devices commonly called wind turbines, often erected in multiple installations generally called wind farms. The wind farms are generally situated in a geographical area previously determined to be an area where there is generally windy conditions. In such devices there is usually provided a three bladed propeller like device rotatably mounted on the top of a vertically aligned tower where the propeller may axially rotate to always be facing the prevailing wind. The towers may be on the order of fifty to seventy five feet in axial length from the top, where the propeller like devices are mounted, to the bottom thereof located at the ground surface. In some proposed earlier models of wind turbine arrangements, the propeller like devices were connected to and rotated around a horizontally oriented shaft. The horizontally oriented shaft was often connected through a gear box to rotate a vertical shaft extending the axial length of the tower and the vertical shaft in turn was connected to an electrical generator usually located at the bottom of the tower. As the wind rotated the propeller like devices the electrical generator generates electricity which was fed into a power grid or other type of system. Such arrangements of wind turbines have not proven to be operationally satisfactory since, for example, the elongated vertical drive shaft was difficult to maintain in proper alignment.
Many of the later models of wind turbines incorporated the electrical generator and often a gear box in a close coupled arrangement to the rotating propeller blades at the top of the tower to which they were attached. Such an arrangement results in a very heavy mass and structure at the top of the tower thereby requiring comparatively heavy tower structures to support such heavy masses. Also, there are difficult maintenance activities associated with the massive rotating parts at the top of the towers which often resulted in down time for the wind turbine.
While some of the wind turbines incorporated propeller like devices in a generally fixed orientation to the direction of the expected wind, they are often rotated at a very low speed or not rotated at all for the condition of the wind blowing from a direction different from the expected direction and thus minimum or no electrical energy is generated for such conditions. Other wind turbine arrangements incorporated a rotatable structure at the top of the tower to allow rotation of the assembly of one or more of the propeller blades, gear box and electrical generator about a vertical axis so that the blades could be oriented in the direction of the wind. However, the weight of the structure to be rotated into the wind often required the use of a sensor to detect the direction of the wind and a motor, generally electrically powered, to rotate the desired structure in response to the detected direction of the wind as a simple weather vane type device of reasonable size could not generate enough force to rotate the assembly.
In other prior art wind turbine systems there have been proposed vertically oriented rotor assemblies to drive a vertical shaft but such devices have not proven to be commercially acceptable or practical in operation.
Since the wind turbines are generally located outdoors, the solar rays from the sun impinge on the tower structure supporting the propeller like devices but this energy available from the solar rays has not heretofore been utilized to increase the efficiency of the electrical energy generation.
Thus, there has long been a need for a wind driven structure for driving an electrical generator to provide electrical energy that will automatically respond to any changing direction of the wind to allow full power operation of the system as well as utilizing the energy from solar rays to aid in the generation of the electrical energy. There has also been a need for a wind turbine arrangement that is free of massive weights at the top of the supporting tower and that is free of lengthy rotating shafts. It has also been desired to have a wind turbine arrangement in which the routine service to the main structural members of the tower assembly such as the wind turbine, gear box and electric generator may be accomplished at ground level.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wind turbine arrangement for generating electrical energy.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved wind turbine arrangement for generating electrical energy that operates at substantially full power regardless of the direction of the wind.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved wind turbine arrangement for generating electrical energy regardless of the direction of the wind and which utilizes energy from solar rays to improve the efficiency of the electrical energy generation.